Israeli officials hail Foxman, who led the ADL advocacy group for nearly three decades, as warm and passionate.
Prominent Jewish American leader and Israel defender Abraham “Abe” Foxman has died at age 86.
The Anti-Defamation League, the advocacy group he led for 28 years, confirmed his death on Sunday, calling him an “outspoken, passionate, and tireless advocate for the Jewish people and Israel“.
A Holocaust survivor, Foxman helped shape the conversation around Israel and anti-Semitism in the US for decades.
ADL Board Chair Nicole Munchnik said Foxman helped build the “modern liberal era of America”, describing him as a “longtime adviser” to US presidents and world leaders.
“To those of us who knew him, Abe was a warm friend, adviser, spirited antagonist and hugger – all over lunch,” Munchnik said.
Foxman joined the ADL in 1965 and served as the group’s national director from 1987 to 2015.
Under his leadership, the group – which presents itself as an anti-hate watchdog – became one of the most influential advocacy organisations in the country.
Palestinian rights advocates have long condemned the ADL, accusing it of demonising pro-Palestine activists and conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
Since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza, the ADL – under Foxman’s successor Jonathan Greenblatt – has intensified its campaign against Israel’s critics.
Greenblatt, who has supported laws to penalise boycotts of Israel, compared the Palestinian keffiyeh to the Nazi swastika last year.
Foxman also remained a staunch supporter of Israel and defended its conduct during the genocidal war on Gaza.
“What is happening in Gaza is tragic. But it is not Genocide. And it is not illegal,” he wrote on X in July 2025 as Israel imposed a hunger crisis on the territory.
“War is hell and inhumane, destructive and ugly. And nations must take all possible care to avoid civilian harm. And Israel has and is doing that. Having said this, Israel still needs to act with all deliberate speed and skill to provide maximum humanitarian aid to lessen the loss of innocent civilian lives.”
Weeks before his death, Foxman backed the US-Israel war on Iran, voicing gratitude to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attacking the country.
“Thank you President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu for standing up to evil and jihadist extremism. The world hopefully will be a better and safer place in the future,” he said in a social media post on February 28 after the war broke out.
In March, Foxman warned about what he described as the rise of anti-Semitism on the right and left of the political spectrum in the US, hitting out at liberal politicians publicly distancing themselves from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
“If a politician doesn’t want to take money from AIPAC, don’t take money from AIPAC, but don’t make taking money from AIPAC a morality test – because that continues to build the conspiracy theory that there is a Jewish lobby that controls America,” he told the Jewish Standard.
AIPAC, which backs the war on Iran, has been spending millions of dollars on ad campaigns to defeat Israel’s critics in US elections.
Last year, Foxman sounded the alarm about the dwindling support for Israel in the US, underscoring the importance of the alliance between the two countries for Israel.
“We’re in a propaganda war, and to an extent, we’re losing the propaganda war, and I worry about losing America,” Foxman told Times of Israel.
“It’s scary, looking at the polls, the Sunday television shows, the major newspapers – there is so much out there that is anti-Israel.”
Despite his assertion, rights advocates often decry the absence of Palestinian perspectives on TV shows in the US media.
In 2021, Foxman announced that he was cancelling his New York Times subscription after the newspaper published a front page featuring the photos of dozens of Palestinian children killed by Israel in Gaza.
“Today’s blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough,” he said at that time.
Tributes in Israel and the US poured in for Foxman on Sunday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of Foxman.
“A towering voice against antisemitism, Abe devoted his life to defending the Jewish people and strengthening the bond between Israel and Jewish communities worldwide,” Saar said on X.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also called Foxman a “legendary leader of the Jewish people”.
“He was a passionate Zionist, a humanist, and an outspoken, wise friend,” Herzog said.
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